Saturday, September 01, 2007

Further along the New Pathways

I had better success following a particular pattern in New Pathways for Sock Knitters. This is Bordhi's Dove Sock, knit with Bearfoot in the Pheasant colorway. ("Dove?" Pheasant?" The hilarity continues). Note: Dodger wanted his foot in the picture too.

Overall, I recommend the book, with the caveat that I think the socks are a little weird-lookin'. As ingenious and innovative as Bordhi's new pathways are, the socks seem fat, because some of the overall allowance for the heel is created in the arch expansion. When the socks aren't on a foot, they don't look like feet. I prefer the shape (and fit) of socks with just a short-row heel cup and no heel flap.

Still, this book has forever changed how I manage the wrapped short-rows, and made me a bigger fan of the method of increasing she uses, which will probably henceforth be widely known as La-Link and La-Rink. (Check out Bordhi's video demo on YouTube). I expect I'll be experimenting with some arch increases in my socks for a long time.